Pet peeve... wasting food
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Programs: BAEC OW Gold/Emerald
Posts: 470
Pet peeve... wasting food

In Gold wing/ lounge LHR this afternoon when a gentleman was piling up the food. He eventually left most of it.
I cannot understand why people take more food than they can possibly eat. Recently returned from the Hotel Splendid in Budva Montenegro and witnessed the same thing there.
The gentleman in the photo which I cannot edit on my phone was not the perpetrator.
#2
Ambassador: Emirates Airlines
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 17,819
I’ve noticed the same over the last few years, mainly by Eastern Europeans and Russians. If there is a buffet, they’ll just fill a few plates up right at the start and make room on their table. Sometimes it will all get eaten, other times I’ve seen platefuls just discarded as they hit the desserts…
#3
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Mexico
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 2,701
Yes, it's mind boggling. Watched it many times. I've been to a couple of buffets in my time where the price increases if you leave food on your plate. Amazing how people take less. Not going to work in lounges, but wish people wouldn't be so wasteful.
#4
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold; FB Silver; SPG; IHG Gold
Posts: 2,588
Crass buffet behaviour. There must be some sort of psychological explanation. I imagine that same person would have been hoarding pasta and toilet rolls during the pandemic.
Mind you, I am almost an opposite extreme. Small amounts on my plate each time, but a huge number of trips to the buffet. I do find people piling on huge amounts of food so that it is virtually toppling off their plate a bit embarassing. Then again some people might observe me going to the buffet five times and think I'm a greedy .......
Mind you, I am almost an opposite extreme. Small amounts on my plate each time, but a huge number of trips to the buffet. I do find people piling on huge amounts of food so that it is virtually toppling off their plate a bit embarassing. Then again some people might observe me going to the buffet five times and think I'm a greedy .......

#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 31,579
Gross behaviour by the perp. I have no idea what their mental processes are, other than “It’s FREE!”
Unless it was a family of 6, who suddenly realised they had to go to T5C
Unless it was a family of 6, who suddenly realised they had to go to T5C

#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Gold/OWE, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 31,579
I do recall our AI holiday in Maui, which had an excellent and varied breakfast buffet, watching certain guests filling their beach bags with lunch and possibly dinner too!
#10
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 58,359
I can't make out some of the food items, but my estimate of the bananas, rice and sandwiches is that there is 4,100 calories there, so enough to feed a male for 40 hours.
#11
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: UK
Posts: 393
A total foul practice by the visitor(s). If the food was not good or inedible they should have raised it with the staff so it could have been addressed.
I used to live near a local Chinese buffet place where they claimed their chefs took great pride in the food they made and had a strict policy for every full plate of food not consumed there would be a £5 penalty to prevent food wastage.
A bodybuilder friend of mine up until a couple of months ago was eating 5,000 calories a day to bulk up as it was off season but the meals were far more nutitious than this.
I used to live near a local Chinese buffet place where they claimed their chefs took great pride in the food they made and had a strict policy for every full plate of food not consumed there would be a £5 penalty to prevent food wastage.
A bodybuilder friend of mine up until a couple of months ago was eating 5,000 calories a day to bulk up as it was off season but the meals were far more nutitious than this.
#12
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 208
Few things annoy me more than seeing people waisting food! I guess either a bad upbringing where no one tought you the value, or a worse upbringing where you had nothing...
Can backfire though. Had a friend who spent a couple of weeks in a very posh resort. A Russian family at the same resort that constantly ordered food and drinks. Took a bite of a burger, left it, a zip of a drink, left it. Went on for two weeks... When they were leaving the resort it was a bit of upheaval, it was not an all inclusive resort..
Can backfire though. Had a friend who spent a couple of weeks in a very posh resort. A Russian family at the same resort that constantly ordered food and drinks. Took a bite of a burger, left it, a zip of a drink, left it. Went on for two weeks... When they were leaving the resort it was a bit of upheaval, it was not an all inclusive resort..

#14
Join Date: May 2014
Location: BRU
Programs: BA GGL, TK E (*G), ITA exec
Posts: 3,436
I’ve noticed the same over the last few years, mainly by Eastern Europeans and Russians. If there is a buffet, they’ll just fill a few plates up right at the start and make room on their table. Sometimes it will all get eaten, other times I’ve seen platefuls just discarded as they hit the desserts…

That also explain why in a lot of lounges I can't leave my table until I have finished everything in my plate, otherwise it gets collected. Lounge attendants are too much used to people not finishing their food.
#15
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 1,168
I've decided I just don't like the invisible guy at all.